Feature article spotlights this year's BlackStar Film Festival, founded by Holmes in 2012

August 7, 2013

Film/Video Senior Lecturer Maori Holmes is the "New Face of Indie Film," according to a cover story in the July 31 issue of Philadelphia Weekly. The feature article spotlights the filmmaker's BlackStar Film Festival, which ran August 1 – 4 in the City of Brotherly Love.

Now in its second year, the four-day festival – nicknamed "Black Sundance" by Ebony magazine during its very successful first year – is a celebration of cinema focused on work by and about people of African descent in a global context. BlackStar highlights films that are often overlooked from emerging, established and mid-career directors, writers and producers working in narrative, documentary, experimental and music video filmmaking.

Holmes has produced several short films and videos that have been screened internationally at festivals, museums and universities, as well as broadcast throughout the U.S.She has taught at Scribe Video Center, Temple University and Villanova University. As a curator, she has presented programs at Painted Bride Art Center, Swarthmore College and International House Philadelphia. She is a recipient of the Leeway's Art and Change Grant (2005, 2006) and Transformation Award (2006), as well as grants from Independence Media (2005, 2007), Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (2008) and Women's Way (2008).

In addition to being the founding artistic director of the BlackStar Film Festival, Holmes is a member of the Dream Factory Collective. She has previously managed artists and for four years, ran the Black Lily Film and Music Festival focused on independent women artists. In 2009, the Los Angeles native was named a Creative Ambassador by the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation.